Legos for Adults: Grown-ups Embrace the Plastic Bricks for Work and Play

BrickCon 2014, which was started by Seattle-area adult Lego hobbyists, attracted an estimated 12,000 people in October.

(Photo Credit: )

When Ian Tinkler, vice president of
brewer engineering at Keurig Green Mountain Inc., was trying to figure out how
to design a new brewing machine, he turned to an unlikely household source: his
children’s Lego collection.

Tinkler needed to create a mechanism
that could brew both single-serve pods and a whole pot of coffee. So he
challenged his kids to help him work it out using Lego bricks.

His son said, “‘Dad, you need a slider,’” Tinkler recalled. “And we sat down together and
built the mockup we used at the program kickoff meeting.” The dual-functioning
machine, Keurig 2.0,
debuted in August.

“As a kid I loved Legos, and am now
able to re-live the fun with my boys,” he added.

Tinkler is not the only grownup
reveling in the colorful plastic bricks these days. A growing number of adults are
embracing them in a variety of ways, from attending adult-only nights at
Lego-themed indoor play centers to using them as a means of coping with
post-traumatic stress disorder.